We used a ceiling fan box designed for use on ceiling such as yours. Manufacturer of the box is Arlington Industries. We purchased it locally and if you do an internet search for the manufacturer you'll find information and pictures. Here's some more info: ~ It comes in 2 sizes (about 6" square or 8" square). ~ There is also a model that uses the extending legs like in recessed lights for mounting (not a great explanation but you'll understand if you see a picture of the boxes with extender legs). ~ The box is white. Not sure if it suppose to be paintable or not. Our ceilings in this room are white so we did not paint the box. ~ The price was about $12-$15. Our ceiling fans are centered in room and fell between the studs. Instead of purchasing the box with extender legs (which actually were not yet available) we purchased just the box and mounted using 2x4's for extra stability since our fans will be rather large and heavy. The extended legs seems like a good idea and surely simpler for mounting but I'm not sure once you get the weight of the ceiling fan and have it running how well it will hold up (the extender legs always seem somewhat flimsy).

You can buy rods of varying length. You basically want the fan to be at around 8' from the floor. I placed mine at a point that was around 10' and used a 2' rod (or was it 18"? I don't remember) to put is around 8' off the floor. That still allowed be to reach the reversing switch.

Thanks for weighing in, all! I was trying to find a fan that worked (matched) with the sconces, but it sounds like letting the fans blend into the ceiling is a better way to go. The Victorian style light might be a hangover from the previous owners, since that was more the direction they were taking this house when they replaced things. The house has a few victorianesque details, but when I look up true (heavy, dark) Victorian, it's too oppressive for me. I'll double check, but DH seemed to think maybe the sconces and table lamps would give us enough light. If that's so, then we wouldn't need the light kits at all. I would appreciate the simplicity of that visually! (Unless I can't see to appreciate it 'cause it's too dark in here, LOL.) I'll be heading to the stores around 10 a.m E.S.T. today. If you have any last words of wisdom to send me off with, please do so. : )

Northern Cal - no snow. Cold? It is always so fun to hear what people think is cold or hot. Everyone seems to think their climate is extreme. If you don't get snow - then you aren't at elevation - correct? If you are not at elevation, then you don't get cold by what many in the US would think is cold. Sure cold for Palo Alto. But true cold is Minnesota. It is like when people complain about NC (where I live) getting hot. 5 days above 95 a year is what we are. That is not hot. AZ - that is hot. I was a little crude/rude whatever with the absurd comment. But don't ignore what I said that zones are rarely done correctly. My last house was zoned. It was 6000 sqft and we had 2 units with 4 zones total. One zone was the basement - that is pretty typical and required by our codes. Then we had the master suite separate from the rest of upstairs. We had an infant and we like to sleep cold - like 60 winter, 65 summer. No zoning this time because despite Carrier Infinity having the most sophisticated zoning system available in conventional residential HVAC, it was not great. Mostly it was not great because we went through 2 motors in 7 years. It was an install issue - but the ducts were large and so were the returns. But 9 zones might make sense if it is a 10k sqft U shaped 3 story house. But what I see is a degree of paranoia about temps leading to an overengineered system. That system will break and it will happen more often than a simple system. CA codes require better than average US insulation relative to climate. This goes a long way towards making a comfortable house.